


Black night, black wings

by Triana



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A little, Angst, Bromance, Fluff, Gen, Nightmares, hella lot of bromance, hurt&comfort, what can we do without it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 09:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2019849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triana/pseuds/Triana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karasuno are having fun in a training camp, and one night Kageyama happens to have a frightening nightmare. But he's not alone and doesn't have to deal with it on his own anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Black night, black wings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Viria](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Viria).



> A small humble present for Vika, who never ceased to inspire and motivate me while I was working on it, thanks to you there's a bit less pain and angst! And if it weren't for you I definitely wouldn't have finished it this soon, thank you for the wonderful angsty music for it and everything!

"Shut up already, all of you!" Daichi shouted, picking up a blanket and settling in his futon, which was nearby Suga's. The Captain has just turned the lights off and everything fell quiet for a second, but then muffled blabbering carried on. Tanaka with Nishinoya were whispering so loudly that Ennoshita could hear them from the other end of the room, also asking them to _go to sleep for gods sake._ After a note from Daichi, though, they both shut up and lied down on their pillows. Of course, that was the most effective way to put this to the end.  
But nothing could possibly disturb Kageyama that evening. Despite the pre-sleeping chattering, today was the _least easy_ part of their training camp, as Ukai-sensei put it, and everyone could barely stand after it. Although food was quite a good motivator to get ones together for a while to enjoy some tasty snacks, even pork curry was there, much to Kageyama’s delight. Hinata’s eyes sparked up seeing the table and he almost choked while swallowing his tamago kake gohan. What an idiot. Afterwards they showered and settled for sleep fast enough, even without any usual fuss. The situation was obvious — everyone fell asleep as soon as their heads touched the soft fabric of the pillows. Kageyama felt his muscles finally relaxing and melting into the cool and welcoming sheets, but his mind couldn’t find any peace for a while, and it puzzled him. Of course he enjoyed the training, he always did, but he was so goddamn tired he thought going to sleep wouldn’t be hard, even with Nishinoya or Hinata nearby.

Speaking of which…

Kageyama wasn’t exactly planning it, but his eyes still turned to the right to find Hinata’s figure, laying practically on a blanket and most likely clinging to it, his back towards Kageyama. Kageyama snorted. He wished Hinata would always fall asleep this quickly. He was worn out today too, they trained for spiking a lot and he jumped and jumped over and over again, even Kageyama himself was kind of surprised, like, does Hinata even know what tiredness is? Coach Ukai suggested him taking a break, but he refused and got even more fired up. Kageyama couldn’t help but appreciate that in his own way, he respected the urge and determination in training. Not that he was going to let Hinata know that.

Kageyama closed his eyes and tried drifting to sleep again, because apparently everyone else was watching some dreams already, judging from some muttering echoing through the room from time to time.

It was really peaceful and calming, so why couldn't he just fall asleep? Why couldn't he just slip through the boundaries of his consciousness and get some rest? It was so annoying. Of course, right when he needed his sleep most, his brain suddenly decided to think about everything. He was just mindlessly drifting from one thought to another, from volleyball to… well, volleyball again, because it was what his head was completely full of. Kageyama turned on his side, facing Hinata’s back. A few seconds later, he heard some clattering on the windows — apparently, it was raining. Kageyama took a deep breath, sounds of drops hitting the glass being so relaxing and soothing, along with quiet snuffling all across the room. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was somehow reassuring, knowing that his teammates were sleeping around him. He never had any similar thoughts concerning Kitagawa Daichi, and it felt… nice for things to change after all, for the future not to be hopeless as it seemed in junior high. Kageyama felt just a little… freer.

It was a thought good enough to hold on to, and Kageyama’s mind slowly, carefully drifted off to sleep, finally allowing his body to relax and get its earned rest.

 

He found himself on the court again, and that reassured him for a second — feeling a solid familiar ground under his feet — but then he realized that it was... dark. Darker than it's supposed to be. Kageyama wanted to call out for someone, but he didn't even know if his voice worked. It was so quiet around him that he probably went deaf. He looked around, yet there was nothing but darkness. Kageyama tried to even his breathing, but it was useless — his heart raced like mad, his body was burning and his muscles ached. When Kageyama tried to move, everything jumped in action.  
He had a horrible déjà vu growing strong in his chest as he appeared to be playing volleyball; although it was still unusually dark all around, at least there was a net, his opponents and, most importantly, the ball, flying right behind him and then coming back after a thump, after being received by someone whom Kageyama couldn't see. It confused him, and scared — _How could he play without knowing whom was he supposed to toss?_ — but his body seemed to move out of his control, as if he was just watching it through someone's eyes. It felt natural, lunging for the ball, yet still so terribly off that at some point Kageyama thought he was going to fall in his jump. Nevertheless, it was calculated perfectly — the ball landed right into his wide spread fingers and easily bounced off them, soaring along the net with an impressive speed. Kageyama couldn't help but wait until his teammate would spike it and send onto the opponents' floor, and when he saw the perfect moment for that, nothing happened, the ball was still flying. His eyes widened, _how could they possibly miss a toss,_ but in the last moment a hand appeared from the shadows, barely managing to hit the ball, sending it a bit to the left due to delay. It might've gone out, but there wasn't a chance: a wall of hands arose out of nowhere, seemingly forming into a semi-circle, as if trying to surround and trap the ball. It worked just as planned — the spike wasn't even strong enough to shake the block, and the ball quickly returned to their own land, slamming against it with a noise that made Kageyama wince.

_Goddamn it!_

Their blocks were high, too high to get past them with usual attacks. Kageyama was still dizzy, but the game caught his attention completely and made him to focus on it. The only possible option was tricking their block, spiking faster, before they could even jump, because apparently, it was useless to go with force alone. But that last spike he saw… it was weird. Were they so tired already? Kageyama could relate to that, he was completely out of breath and his limbs were shaking, but they had to make it to the end, they had to win and outplay those blocks, no matter how high or good they were! There wasn’t anything they couldn’t do until they try hard enough, and Kageyama was determined to find a way to solve this problem. If only he could manage to make his toss faster and a bit higher, closer to the net…

“What’s wrong with your tosses?!” his thoughts were suddenly interrupted with something less expected to be heard at the moment. He turned around and finally saw all five of his teammates, staring at him, their brows furrowed, and their eyes filled with… was that annoyance? Anger? He couldn’t quite grasp it, but that was weird. Why would they look at him like this?

Some part of his brain fired up in an alarm, as if trying to warn his that something was wrong, as if cautioning him about some sort of a situation he’d already been through a while ago, and Kageyama tried his best to shake the feeling off. It was only distracting him from the game.

Yet the question still hung in the air, and all five pairs of eyes seemed to make attempts to burn a hole through him. What’s wrong with his tosses? It was Kindaichi who couldn’t spike it properly, why was it supposed to be Kageyama’s problem?

“You must jump higher and swing harder,” he said, trying to keep his cool. Kindaichi’s eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe in what Kageyama was saying. The whole team was shooting _is-he-actually-nuts_ glances at him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. He was saying the simple truth, what was so strange about that? He wanted to win no less than anyone did, why wouldn’t they just listen to him?

“You must stop making such reckless tosses, jerk,” Kageyama’s heart missed a beat. There was definitely something foreign yet familiar in this situation, something that made him wonder again why was it so dark around him. It even seemed to becoming worse with every second. But he held his ground and tried again.

“We have to attack faster to make our way around their block, how don’t you understand? Obviously, you don’t have enough strength to beat through it, than at least try to do something useful and make up for it with speed!” The words spilled out of his mouth before Kageyama processed them, because he was being honest with them, he wanted them to develop and draw out their potential. They could do anything and jump over any block, if they only wanted to…

Kindaichi eyed him, his expression clearly clouding and becoming even more furious and astonished, he opened his mouth to say something, but a whistle screeched, announcing the next serve, although Kageyama almost forgot that he was actually playing already. Kindaichi’s gaze… bewildered him, Kageyama couldn’t really accept what he saw and heard. If he were to guess, he’d say that the people surrounding him on the court were giving him looks of _hatred._ But that couldn’t be it, could it? He didn’t do anything to make them hate him, he was just trying to lead their team to victory.

And so he kept trying, kept giving them his best quicks and watching, watching the whole court carefully in order to pick the place, angle and speed for the tosses perfectly, but they were barely able to hit those at all, much less spike them properly. Kageyama’s heart was filling with despair, he was shouting at them to jump higher and try harder, but they didn’t seem to listen. Will they really lose just like that? Because of ignoring the obvious sense Kageyama was trying to put in them? Or was he actually doing it somehow wrong? Maybe he shouldn’t have yelled at them, but his nerves were like naked wires, and any mistake made them sparkle with electricity. He was too stressed out to think about paraphrasing.

But still, how were they going to get back the control over the situation if…

_Set point!_

Kageyama was returned to reality by loud whistling, cutting through his ears, as he prepared for the next serve. Perhaps it was a better thing not to do any experiments right now and give a not really direct, easier toss, because the spikers missed three latest ones, and that was a bad sign. The ball rushed over his head and he heard a thump of it landing on their libero’s arms even before he could see it, because his eyes were pinpointing the best place to send a toss. They have to stop them; they have to turn the tide at whatever the cost!

_A back toss._

His chest ached when he thought about that. It was a perfect move for now, since most of the blockers were in the right part of the court. If he did it fast but gentle enough, maybe they could at least get a free ball or even a point…

_Stop!_

His breath was taken away as his mind flashed in pain when his fingers prickled in less than a second before the ball touched them. His eyes widened in horror when images rushed through his mind like ghosts, interrupting all his life processes and filling his body with numbness and _god so much pain._ He froze in midair and the truth reflected in his eyes — he remembered. Remembered sending the ball behind his back, praying for this soft toss to work and let them score, just this once. He wasn’t thinking about anything, he only wanted his toss to be spiked. And he remembered hearing no screeching of shoes on the smooth parquet, no rushing, no sounds of jumping and not a single thump, not a single sign of the ball being touched, after which he shifted and turned around sharply, searching for a spiker in the air, expecting to see him with his arm swung and ready to hit, but…

_There was no one there._

The memories came back and flooded his existence in a very short period of time, telling him to stop the toss and just run, _run_ away as far as he could not to see those people’s faces ever again, yet it was too late for him anyway. Time seemed to slow down when the ball lightly rubbed against his fingers, making his skin burn with the touch, and deliberately pushed itself off his palms, steadily making its way through the air out of Kageyama’s sight. He didn’t want that, didn’t mean that, but his body seemed to move out of his control, completely ignoring his mind’s prayers. His hair got in front of his eyes when his head turned the side, partly blocking his view, but Kageyama could still clearly see and feel the emptiness behind him, the absence of someone’s presence and utter silence. Nobody was there to spike his toss, nobody was there for him. The ball was closing to the ground and there was no one to save it.

_Don’t look!_

His consciousness was screaming and tearing his head to pieces, no, he didn't want to look, he didn't need to see that again, to live through that again. He watched it so many times, he dreamed about it so often that even if it was just another nightmare, he was just so desperate not to see it again, so eager to forget. You had your past so that you can learn looking back at it, make some conclusions and predict situations and consequences of different interactions, but no matter how useful, although it probably wasn’t at all, Kageyama rejected this past as much as he possibly could. Yet it just kept popping up, making him remember every tiniest detail of it. Maybe he just couldn’t get rid of it? Would it haunt him forever, then? No, he didn’t want it, he didn’t deserve it! He did nothing for anyone to decide that it was essential to treat him like this!

_Close your eyes!_

A mere moment before the ball hit the ground, Kageyama shut his eyes close so tightly he was afraid of tearing up. Everything was ringing in his head, tearing it to pieces, but before he could try covering his ears, wrapping arms around his head or just screaming for gods sake, the sound reached his ears, way too familiar and overwhelming, despite its quietness and simplicity. A light thud, the noise, which leather makes when touching the parquet, the noise, which the ball makes when falling onto the court.

The thing is, it’s not supposed to be this quiet, this subdued; it wasn’t a sound of a ball being spiked. It was a sound of the ball being dropped.

Or, in this case _, rejected._

_A thump._

A thump that echoed through his mind again and again, wrenching him and knocking all the air out of his lungs. _It happened, it happened again,_ his conscious keeps saying, _it happens again no matter what you do and how hard you try. And it will keep happening, see? It’s hopeless, you should just let it go, let volleyball go and let your tosses go before it all abandons and hurts you even more._

_Abandon… volleyball?_

A thought so ridiculous and puzzling, but it made Kageyama so genuinely scared that he his scream ceased to a complete silence. Would it hurt less if he did? Would those nightmares disappear? Would people stop looking at him the way they do?

Would it all finally end?

Nothing could guarantee that, but abandoning volleyball didn’t seem like something he could do. It was all he put his effort in, it was all he lived for, how could he give up on something that important?

But how is he going to play if he doesn’t have any _allies_ at all?

_You’re just such an idiot._

Kageyama’s eyes flew opened with a sudden interaction, and he realized that almost all the court around him got absorbed by the shadows, only a small piece he was standing on was left, but it was also slowly vanishing into nowhere. A voice cut thought the darkness surrounding him easily, waving the cold off and bringing a few rays of sunshine out of nowhere, falling right on his skin and growing brighter and wider with every moment. They felt so hot and nice Kageyama thought he was about to melt. His heart missed a few bits when the voice disappeared, afraid that it’s gone, leaving him with hope finally lighted up in his chest, but when it spoke again, it was even louder and clearer and brighter.   
 _What are you even thinking? Abandoning volleyball, huh, baka?  
_ Kageyama grit his teeth, trying to see who was talking, but the source was behind the light, too far away yet. Nevertheless, he felt anger and irritation building up in his throat already. Who the hell was he to judge him anyway? Sounded like someone his age.   
 _I was just thinking about never giving up on it, you dumbass!_ he snapped, wondering why was he talking to a weird strange voice with such an ease, as if he knew his owner.   
 _I knew you'd say that,_ one ray shone exactly on Kageyama's right eye, making him wince and close it, trying to cover his face from such bright light. It was really hot, but it didn't burn, no; it dried sweat away from his skin, warmed his ice cold bones and made his heart return to a calm steady rhythm, helping him to actually forget everything he saw seconds ago.   
 _I promised you I'd beat you, but that didn't include leaving you behind._ Rays seemed to become more solid and... real, feeling more like a touch, gentle touch on his skin. As if wrapping him in a tight cocoon, the shining slowly brightened around him, making him close his eyes. He wanted to step back instinctively, but it was so nice, to feel protected and needed for once, he couldn't bring himself to disrupt the light. He just wanted to throw every damn thought about that toss out of his head and to play volleyball again without looking at it like he did then. Without expecting the players to mock him, without fearing that his toss wouldn't be spiked again, without being scared of being left alone on the court to receive, toss and spike on his own, which he, of course, was incapable of.   
He wanted to play volleyball and enjoy it, to have fun in the process.  
 _You're going to miss a game now,_ the voice teased, and tugging sensation grew stronger as the rays grew more formidable. _Guess I'll have to give you a lift..._  
Now that frightened Kageyama as he threw his arms in the air, but it was useless, as the shining grew so bright it was painful even with his eyes closed, and a moment later it vanished. The air seemed warm enough again, the light on his eyelids seemed normal enough again, and he could hear some noises all around, and those were... well, volleyball noises.  
His eyes snapped open as he looked around, taking the atmosphere in. He was in a gym, for sure — a huge one, with Air Salonpas smell in the air, big audition and a few courts. There were so many people all around Kageyama got lost at first, but then an all too familiar impudent hand suddenly snatched him to the side, bringing in the surrounding of players in black-orange uniforms.  
It was Karasuno, his team.   
"Where have you been, Kageyama?" Tanaka asked him with a small hint of annoyance in his voice, but still grinning wildly.  
"I—" he didn't know what to answer, thought. Where has he been? He didn’t really remember? "I was in the toilet." Just the first thing that came to his mind.   
"Did you go there with Hinata?" Tsukishima asked, raising his eyebrow, and everyone couldn't help but snicker. Hinata seemed to keep quiet nearby, but just as Kageyama was about to slap something worthy in return, Nishinoya interfered:  
"Really, man, you're stealing Hinata's habit away," he giggled and knocked Tanaka with his shoulder. Kageyama preferred to keep his mouth shut this time, or it could go on forever. He knew how his senpais worked, it was all pretty simple.  
"Alright, we're all warmed up and ready to win now, aren't we?" Daichi asked, clapping his hands, and the team cheered. Suga gestured them closer as they formed a circle, bending down a bit, and their captain said:  
"Karasuno..." the tension on his shoulders grew stronger as everyone tightened their grip, and so did he in return. The moral boost before the game always gave him energy and required tune to play.   
"Fight!" Daichi shouted out, and everybody took a deep breath.

“OSU!” they yelled, extending the vowels and making other teams look at them questioningly. Hinata and Suga clapped his shoulders from both sides and let go, as Daichi led the team on the court. It was bright out there, but in a nice way; Kageyama could already feel the energy surging through his body, his hands itching to get the ball. But they had to greet their opponents first; they met under the net and shook hands roughly. Kageyama didn’t have to know anything about the other players, he just had to believe and do his best, be reliable for his teammates and get all the balls to the spikers. His task was simple. There was one guy, though… he shook his hand, clenching it just a bit tighter than required, smiling in a weird way, somehow teasing, as if he knew something Kageyama didn’t… and it annoyed him, so he shook his hand as quickly as possible, pulling his own back instantly and meeting his seemingly warm brown eyes, which looked at him with some sort of… amusement hidden underneath a welcoming mask, like he was watching some sort of an experiment, and Kageyama was the main subject. It made him a little suspicious at first, but he shook that feeling off and dived straight into the game.

Everything started perfectly well, not that he expected it to go otherwise. They received, they tossed, they spiked and they scored. Their opponents were on their tails, though, not allowing them to break away for more than two points, and sometimes even taking the leadership, but Karasuno changed the tides fast enough, so no one seemed to be worried or anything.

So why was his heart racing like mad, even though he wasn’t tired yet?

The other team scored when Hinata couldn’t make it in time to properly block their spike, but he wasn’t fazed in the slightest, if only a bit disappointed but determined to redeem himself, which made Kageyama feel sort of proud.

Wait a second. He was proud of Hinata? Now where the hell did this—

“Oikawa, nice serve!” the shouts splashed him out of his oblivion, as he noted that the opponents moved and there was a new player on the serve now; Kageyama didn’t remember seeing him there before, and when he took a closer look, turned out it was the very same guy whom Kageyama grew to dislike on spot, the brown-eyed one. He was quite tall and athletic, Kageyama couldn’t help but wonder what kind of serve was hidden behind his smile. His skills were excellent in general, though, and especially in tossing — he was a very talented setter, although it didn’t seem to Kageyama like he was far behind.

And despite his easy-going appearance and character, he had quite a presence on the court, a presence, which actually warned you, _that guy is dangerous._

When Oikawa threw the ball into air, Kageyama knew that his instincts didn’t fail him.

His jump and swing were really powerful, and Kageyama immediately realized that this serve might get them in some troubles. The ball was rotating incredibly fast, and its speed was outstanding — it landed right on Tsukishima’s arms but simply jumped off, due to the strength of the crush. Tsukishima cursed under his breath and Karasuno seemed to stiffen, preparing for the next surprises the other team had in its sleeve.

“Don’t mind, don’t mind!” Daichi shouted, and Tsukishima nodded, barely noticeable, stretching his arms and getting ready yet again. He was as stubborn as hell, Kageyama had to give him that.

Oikawa smiled as the ball returned to him, all smug and mocking, which made Kageyama eager to beat him and erase that grin from his face even more. He liked challenging opponents, what could he do about that. Overcoming difficulties helped him to develop, find new solutions and was… fun in a way.

“Oikawa, another nice serve!” somebody cheered, and the player jumped again, making the ball follow a planned trajectory, seemingly getting to Tsukishima again, but this time he simply stepped back as Nishinoya lunged forward, receiving it and returning the ball almost perfectly to the setter.

“Nice receive, Noya-san!” Tanaka yelled.

“Argh, sorry, Kageyama!” Nishinoya spat out. “Not exactly yours, but you can still cover!”

Kageyama couldn’t even put a finger on why Nishinoya was apologizing, since he only had to do like one step.

He could feel Hinata’s aura, growing wider and stronger as he charged for the net, quickly making his way around the players, and spreading his arms behind him to have some more inertia for the jump. Kageyama didn’t need to see this, he knew that Hinata was waiting for him already, he was calling him.

And there wasn’t much time left to wait.

He heard his sneakers screeching, and then the ball touched his hands softly as he pushed it back into the air, performing a back toss. Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows, hearing a sound of Hinata’s palm hitting the leather, because it appeared to be a bit… off? Turning around he saw that Hinata still spiked it, which wasn’t surprising at all, but he was somehow already out of breath. Thinking about it, Kageyama realized that he wasn’t any better. His chest was rising and falling too fast and with too big amplitude. He felt his fingers pricking and his muscles shaking slightly, and it appalled him. It was just one attack, what could possibly exhaust him both?

“You okay, Kageyama, Hinata?” he heard Daichi’s voice as they both turned around to nod and even their breaths more or less. The rest cheered them, praising the successful attack, and they returned to the game yet again.

It wasn’t the last weird thing, so. Kageyama kept getting more and more tired with every toss he made, his breathing getting shallower and shallower. The teams were still going nose to nose, but it was really hard to keep the rhythm and everything together. When the scores were 19:18 in Seijou’s (Kageyama finally took a look at the name of the team) advantage, Kageyama cast a short glance on Hinata, who already managed to make a few more good spikes, and his chest let out a spasm of pain against his will. His legs were trembling and he was breathing really hard, trying to steady himself. Kageyama looked at coach Ukai, but he wasn’t there. Now that was definitely something weird. But before he could ask why wasn’t the coach with them, or at least Takeda-sensei, a referee blew his whistle and returned his attention back to the court.

_That isn’t good._

It was Asahi’s quite a powerful serve now, and they managed to get a free ball, which was quite fortunate. Hinata’s behavior didn’t change in the slightest, he still ran to the net, determined to spike the ball whatever the hell it cost him, and so Kageyama tossed to him.

But everything went _wrong._

The speed of his toss was a little too high, and Hinata’s jump was a little too slow, which caused the ball to rush past Hinata’s hand almost right into the referee, but bumping into the chairs far away instead. Kageyama’s eyes widened in horror. How could he possible mess up the quick? They practiced it so many times, and they weren’t supposed to be this goddamn tired in the middle of the first set. What the hell was wrong?

“H-hinata,” he muttered without even thinking about it. His partner stood under the net, breathing heavily, arms on his knees, as if something was pulling him to the ground, trying to tie him to the ground and break his wings. He really needed to get some rest, but Kageyama knew all too well how would he react if they suggested substituting him. Hinata was just too adamant for that, and it made him angry. “You must—“

“Just take it easy. Toss a bit slower, would you?” Hinata interrupted, rubbing his face, and there was a hint of… annoyance in his voice? Could it be?

“You jumped slower too, if you didn’t notice,” Kageyama parried. “That’s because—“

“Shut up and let’s play,” Hinata turned around and returned to his position. Kageyama couldn’t even understand if he was furious or astonished, probably both. He was just about to follow Hinata and smack his head properly, because like hell he was going to allow him to speak like this, even if he’s tired, but the game was on again, so he didn’t have a chance, only glaring at his back and number 10 on it. Why would Hinata get so irritated? Of course, mistakes are bitter, especially in the official matches, but they could still fix those, it was just the first set, not even the end of it.

He had no reason to be such an asshole, and it… didn’t suit him, didn’t seem like proper Hinata.

But shit just kept happening. Kageyama’s accuracy decreased, along with the height of Hinata’s jumps, and while they still tried, the atmosphere grew really intense between them. Hinata behaved really weird, he never accused Kageyama of anything so merciless and unreasonably, as if stubbornly ignoring his own mistakes and pointing out his only. It was so off his character that Kageyama’s head was about to explode, but he just kept playing and tossing to him. The others made some attempts to calm them down, but it was to no avail. Everything has gone too far already.

Finally, in the end of the first set, on their opponent’s 23d point, Kageyama received a ball from Daichi, who managed to get a difficult serve, and inhaled deeply, calming his buzzing nerves.

_Just one toss. Just one ball. I can manage that._

The ball took in most of his sight, he could only feel Hinata getting behind him, preparing for the spike. He focused in a blink, stretching his arms out and doing a gentle, soft back toss, which Hinata would definitely have no problem spiking. He heard screeching of his shoes, swooshing of the air as he jumped up, slap of his hand pushing the ball forwards, and then…

Just as he turned around he could see that very volleyball slamming in the middle of a huge block, the players being much higher than Hinata in their jumps, and returning to their own court, too fast and unexpected even for Nishinoya to react.

Hinata’s feet touched the ground and almost gave in under him, but he kept standing. He stared at his read hand, then gazed at the blockers, as if still not fully processing what happened. Kageyama was breathless. He couldn’t even believe in what he just saw. It simply couldn’t be true, because Hinata never, _never_ got blocked with his tosses, and now…

_The wall swallowed him up with its shadow yet again._

The whistle signaled the set point, and Kageyama forced himself to get his focus back on the ball. Additionally, those were Oikawa’s serves, he had to be extremely careful. Hinata was tough after all, he’d be alright, _he’d be there to try again._

Nishinoya managed to get the ball, and Kageyama instantly knew that there was the only opportunity of a back toss now, since most of the blockers were still in front of him. If he carefully delivered this ball to Hinata, maybe he’d make a spike in time…

The ball was there all too soon, rubbing against Kageyama’s fingers with a tingling sensation and quickly making its way behind his back to Hinata, and just as Kageyama prepared to hear a slap coming from there, and maybe even a thud of the ball crashing into the ground…

_There was none._

Horrible memories flooded his mind, crashing everything on their path. Suddenly each and every missing piece was in his mind again, blazing hot and burning his existence. _No, no no no, it couldn’t have happened again. Hinata couldn’t have possibly—_

He was standing right under the net, hands still on his knees, shaking.

Kageyama’s heart raced up as he suspected that maybe that fucking idiot finally overworked himself and ran out of stamina. He couldn’t get his nerves still, though, but at the moment it was more important to find out if Hinata was okay. Because nevertheless, it was weird that he didn’t jump or fell to the floor, knowing him, he’d fight for the very end.

Just when he wanted to get closer, Hinata finally looked up, gazing at him, and so many emotions roamed thought his shattered eyes: fear, disbelief, shock, pain and… mistrust. He was looking at Kageyama as if he betrayed him, as if he left him alone to die in the forest, stabbed fatally or something. It frightened Kageyama, that glare — he never saw one on Hinata’s face and never ever wanted to see.

It _hurt_ to see Hinata like this, it genuinely _hurt._

“Hinata—“ he didn’t even know what he was going to say, he just needed to hear him talking again, to see that he was still ready to fight in the second set, to see that he was still eager to win.

“No!” Hinata shouted in return. “This is enough!”

_Enough of your nonsense!_

The words raced through his mind, like brutally awakened memories, causing his head to flash up in pain, but he didn’t even wince, still shocked from how Hinata was acting.

“You promised me you’d make me the strongest! You promised me I’d be invincible with you around!” he sounded angry yet still as if about to cry, and Kageyama couldn’t do anything, couldn’t even move as those words were cutting through his ears. “I trusted you! I really thought you’ve changed after Kitagawa Daichi, I thought you realized and accepted your mistakes and worked on yourself! But it was all a lie, it was my biggest mistake after all!” Kageyama’s eyes widened as his heartbeat grew weaker and breathing shallower, as his vision tunneled and got blurry in the edges. It was a surprise he could still stand, he felt like falling any minute. “You haven’t changed in the slightest since junior high! Your tosses are still fast, arrogant and royal — oh wait, now they aren’t even as accurate as they used to be.” _No, Hinata can’t be saying it, this isn’t Hinata, it can’t be him._ “I can’t spike them anymore, Kageyama, I can’t. I don’t even want to, they’re too exhausting and difficult, and you know that I’m bad with technique anyway. It’s impossible for me, nah, for anyone to spike the royal tosses, you’d better forget about those.” Kageyama was choking on the air he was breathing, he didn’t even feel the ground under his feet anymore, he could only hear and feel Hinata’s words cutting through his flesh, skewering it and making everything he was trying so hard to hold in fall out. Kageyama wanted to just go over and serve a ball really hard right into Hinata’s face to beat this shit out of him, to make him normal again and to stop hearing all those lies coming from his mouth.  But he couldn’t even move his fingers, much less serve a ball properly. Everybody else was now also staring at him, with some kind of… irritation and boredom growing clearer in their eyes?

Kageyama was never ever scared like this before. Kitagawa Daichi members looked at him like this, and it wasn’t surprising, but Karasuno? It was wrong, everything felt _so_ wrong, this must be just a nightmare.

But it seemed so _real._

Maybe, if he pinched himself or something, he’d wake up at last? He didn’t want to stay here anymore, even if it meant never going to sleep ever again, he didn’t want to see this, to hear this. He didn’t want to feel the betrayal again.

He did pinch himself, quite painfully, digging the nails into his skin and shutting his eyes tightly, and when he opened them there wasn’t anything around anymore — no gym, no opponents, no Karasuno members.

He was _alone._

Kageyama felt relief along with regret washing over him, overwhelming his senses and seemingly shutting his body down, bringing him at least some peace. His chest still ached, his skull was apparently trying to crack, but at least there was no one around him to mock or torture him any further. He had his privacy, his solitude, which never betrayed, and he could allow his knees to buckle and legs to go numb, allowing him to fall on whatever the surface he was standing on. It was soft enough, didn’t even hurt him when he crashed into it. Kageyama lay on his back now, leaning his head backwards and trying to gasp for air. His thoughts were dizzy, he couldn’t move properly, and everything just _hurt_ , Kageyama was in so much pain he didn’t know if it was mental or physical anymore. He could feel his soul trying to sneak out of this hell and just breath in some fresh air, take a break, but he doesn’t seem like waking up. Could he fall asleep in his nightmare? That would be nice. Kageyama shut his eyes tightly, willingly ignoring everything that might’ve distracted him from his goal, but it was really hard to focus. He could feel his temples going nuts, all senses mixing into something incoherent and useless, when his instincts warned him about someone’s presence right above. His eyes snapped open even before he thought about that, and the vision was a bit blurry, but in a few moments he could clearly make out Oikawa’s sweet teasing smile and smug brown eyes looking down at him.

He _hated_ being looked down at.

“Well-well-well, would you look at this, Tobio-chan,” he said, fake compassion flowing through his voice. “The king, betrayed and abandoned by his servants, left to go mad and die all alone. Honestly, I’m about to tear up,” he grinned, still smiling, and Kageyama’s desire to smash him in a face grew so strong he could almost feel his arm moving. But his eyes focused on something else instead — something on Oikawa’s shoulders, bright red, somehow familiar. Oikawa noticed the shift in his gaze, looked down on his own body, as if wondering what Kageyama was staring at, and then laughed.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot,” he stood up right, and Kageyama couldn’t see him for a few seconds, but then he heard quiet rustling of the fabric, and in the next moment everything exploded in red above him, making him gasp and his eyes widen. The fabric slowly landed onto him, and it was soft, but so heavy, Kageyama couldn’t even understand how could Oikawa lift it. It pressed his chest so much, the air seemed to be sucked out of his lungs as Oikawa tucked him in a little, like with a blanket. It was so cold, as if he was just put in a snowdrift or a freezer. The fibers of the cloth were like small needles, piercing his skin and cooling his body down even more.

But that wasn’t what scared him most.

Oikawa covered him with a cloak. _The king’s cloak._

And it suffocated him.

Oikawa loomed over him again, satisfied with his actions, still smiling, as if he was born this way.

“You used to be a prince in my shadow, but you grew up to be an excellent king!” he proclaimed, and his face vanished in shadows before Kageyama could spat at it.

The coldness overwhelmed him even more, now that he was alone again. The cloak wasn’t warm at all, it was freezing him and messing with his breathing. He wanted to get it off, it made him feel so dirty and sick, but he couldn’t even more his arms. His heart seemed to slow down beat by beat, a desperate thought races through his mind, _Please, anyone, get it off me_ , but of course there was no one there, just as it was meant to be. Wasn’t it?

“Hey.”

There was a touch, a light pressure on the fabric near his right arm — Kageyama made him turn his head instantly, because no matter how fleeting the voice might’ve been, he’d always recognize it, always hear it above all the others. And he was right — the all too bright orange mop of hair was beside him, Hinata was lying on his stomach and looking at him curiously, as if wondering what was he doing there. Kageyama couldn’t help but sigh in relief, it felt like the cloak got much less heavy. At least it wasn’t hopeless and so final, now that he wasn’t alone after all. As much as conflicting, it was still reassuring and uplifting a little.

When Hinata outstretched his second arm, Kageyama’s focus shifted as he noticed something glistening in it. When he finally saw the shape, every cell in his body screamed in denial and tried to get away, run or vanish, just not to let that thing touch him.

Hinata put a crown on his chest, shifting it slightly so that it could stand, and studying it, tilting his head a bit, as if rating his own work. Kageyama wanted to hard to jump up and smash the goddamn regalia to pieces, but he had troubles breathing, not to mention moving; and the cloak didn’t seem to react at his struggles, staying perfectly still, as if made of stone.

“H-hinata…” Kageyama couldn’t believe what he was seeing, this was so wrong and horrible that he just wanted to wake up, he only wanted to wake up so that everything would finally go back to normal… He realized that it was a nightmare, it couldn’t have been otherwise, but that wasn’t making it any less scary or oppressing.

_Why was Hinata doing it? Did Kageyama mistreat him, did he do any wrong?_

_Or was it just his deepest fear being pushed over all the walls he built to hide it, the fear of being rejected and left alone with a cloak over him and a crown to take him down again?_

Kageyama looked at Hinata again, unable to say anything. He wanted to serve a ball right into this dumbass’ head to get him back to usual Hinata, to stop acting so weird and frightening him, but it was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real.

_You wake up and everything will get normal again, everything will get normal_ , he kept repeating, trying his best to convince himself.

Their eyes met, and Hinata smiled — smiled wide and bright, like the sun, with his usual warm and maybe just a bit annoying, but such hopeful and nice smile, which was always there to make you feel better and assure that, eventually, all your scars shall heal, all the bad memories would be forgotten and everything was going to be alright.

Kageyama felt the pressure taking off his chest, when…

“Long live the king!” Hinata announced, grinning softly, reminding him of Sugawara a little. The air rotted in his mouth, the cloak pinned him back to the ground and the crown seemed to get heavier with every second, as if planning to break his ribs and fall through his chest. Kageyama felt himself sinking deeper and deeper, not being able to stay afloat anymore. It felt like drowning, and it scared him to bits, hazing his mind with panic. He wanted to grab something, anything, but his muscles were numb and limbs frozen, his back being slowly sucked down. His vision tunneled as he went further, felt as if his lungs were actually filling with water, although there was none, but the most painful thing was still Hinata’s face, looking so innocent and curious in such a heart-wrenching environment. Kageyama gasped for breath when he knew that there was no escape anymore, as the cloak fell from him to somewhere unknown and he reached out desperately, wishing so hard for someone to pull him up, but there was only Hinata, and his smile got a bit wider as he snickered, as if calling him an idiot again. Kageyama’s vision went black as he felt the space stiffening around his right arm and shoulders, dragging him down to oblivion.

 

“…geyama! Kageyama, wake up! It’s just a dream, wake up, idiot!” that was the next thing Kageyama heard, Kageyama felt — a strong, warm thread of words which he had trouble processing, pulling him down and out, away from the coldness and heaviness. His chest rose, as if a rock was knocked down from it, desperately widening to inhale some air, and his eyes snapped open, making his eyelids itch. Unwillingly, his body shot upwards, arms reaching out to grab something, _anything_ to insure that he wasn’t going to fall back into that eternal darkness, wasn’t going to be left with his fears and monsters alone again. His fingers found something right in front of him, something warm and soft, and Kageyama clung to it without even realizing what he was doing. When his eyes finally got used to the darkness, the first thing to catch his attention was a bright orange spot right in front of him, and once his blurred vision recovered, he realized in horror that it was a mop of messy ginger hair. Kageyama forced himself to peek lower and stumbled upon a pair of bright orange eyes, staring at him with confusion and concern flowing though. He tried his best to get his brain into a working condition as he proceeded that what he clung to turned out to be Hinata’s arm and shoulder — he was gripping them to tightly that his nails probably dug into Hinata’s skin painfully, but he didn’t seem uncomfortable, no, more of… worried?

Wait, he was _clinging to Hinata._

Kageyama’s nerves seemed to be struck with a lightning as he hurriedly pulled away, drawing his hands to him as if wanting to hide them from Hinata’s curious gaze and just forget about the whole thing. But seeing him like this, on the edge of his futon, not even sleepy anymore, he instantly realized that like hell it was going to be this easy for him.

His breathing was still off, fast and shallow, and he tried taking a few deep inhales to calm himself down, but everything was yet too fresh in his memory. All the vivid images were echoing through his mind and he couldn’t get rid of them — Kageyama always remembered his dreams and particularly nightmares quite well, but it’s been a while since he got a benefit of watching something this realistic. He had his brain to thank for that.

Hinata stretched his arm while he was too fazed to notice and put it on his shoulder, attempting to shake him out gently.

“Just take it easy,” Hinata said, his voice quiet and soothing, as if he was talking to an animal. It pissed Kageyama, but it was actually working.

_Just take it easy. Toss a bit slower, would you?_

Kageyama gasped as a chain of memories flashed through his mind, flooding his imagination and setting his skin on fire, prickling with anticipation of crashing into the same situation like in his dream, even though it appeared to be completely illogical. That was only a nightmare, everything was faked, real Hinata wouldn’t say such things. He might’ve been really annoying, but he wasn’t the type to insult people straight-heartedly, he just couldn’t do it properly. Kageyama wondered if his height and hair color had anything to do with his abilities in intimidating.

At least his stupidest thoughts helped him to take his mind off all that shit from the nightmare.

“Are you alright?” it was a rare thing to hear Hinata talking so… quiet and serious. When something squeezed his shoulder a little, Kageyama realized that it was Hinata’s hand. Unwillingly, he brushed it off. The situation was weird enough as it was.

Once he did it, it occurred to Kageyama that he was still shaking slightly. Did that idiotic nightmare really get to him? He didn’t know what to think, but he definitely couldn’t stay here like this, with Hinata behaving so… strange, and all his teammates sleeping around. His thoughts were really mashed up, he needed some fresh air.

Kageyama got up, ignoring Hinata’s question and heading for the stairs. He tried to be as silent and careful as possible, stepping over Tanaka’s wide spread limbs, along with Nishinoya’s (how could a guy his size take up so much space?), and quickly escaping the pressing atmosphere of the bedroom. He sighed, relieved that at least he won’t have to do any awkward explanations for Hinata, because the latter totally knew how to make him speak just for the sake of shutting him up. And he completely didn’t know how to behave himself in this situation — Hinata wasn’t supposed to see him like this, nobody was, and he preferred to deal with it alone, just like he used to.

“Hey, Kageyama!”

Whispering echoed through the hall as Hinata stumbled out, barely missing Ennochita’s arm with his foot, and making his way to Kageyama. He growled in annoyance. Why the hell was he so stubborn and naïve? Wasn’t everything obvious? Yes, he did have a nightmare — there was no point in denying that — and now he just wanted to breath some fresh air and calm down a bit, away from all the people and _especially_ —

“Where are you going?” Hinata asked, following him close behind, clearly not caring about the answer. Kageyama suppressed an irritated moan, accelerating his pace.

_Why me._

He didn’t answer, his throat itching a bit, as if still holding all the silent cries he wanted to let out a few minutes ago, when that cloak was covering him, digging into his body and weighting him down, sucking the air out of his lungs and suffocating him, and then Hinata—

“Kageyama!”

The feeling of being grabbed from behind around his chest snapped him back to reality as his weight suddenly shifted backwards. His reflexes made him spread his arms and he managed to avoid falling back with something tugging him down. His breathing was off yet again, adrenaline rushed through his body as he was still trying to remotely understand what the hell happened. Kageyama shook his head — a pathetic attempt to clear his thoughts — and looked down, discovering somebody’s — Hinata’s — arms clinging to him, still pulling him back. When he peeked up for a moment, it finally hit him what happened. He found the stairs — and almost fell from them, not even watching where he was going.

His heart was still beating ferociously, as if purposely pounding against his ribs, saying _Watch your step, idiot!_ Well, it was actually really stupid of him not to notice the stairs, and those were high, he could’ve broken his arm or something. And still, being dragged away by Hinata felt… a bit unnatural, because he wasn’t used to people touching him at all, but somehow reassuring, since…

Oh. Hinata was _still_ holding him.

“Oi,” his voice worked on a single impulse of his wish to be freed from a tight grasp. And it proved to be effective — judging by how Hinata’s arms twitched around him, he spoke creepy. As if finally noticing his position, Hinata jerked away from him, as Kageyama turned around to tell him off for… _this_ , but Hinata was the first to open his mouth.

“You idiot!” it came out almost as a scream, and he belatedly realized that he was being way too loud for a sleeping training camp. Hinata quickly shut his mouth, his arms flinching as if to cover it, and then he spoke quieter, in a loud whisper. “Do you even watch where you’re going?!” he was staring at Kageyama, anger and… was that relief in his eyes? Kageyama couldn’t put a finger on it. Why would that be?

“Of course I do, dumbass!” he answered before his brain could even process the words. “Why the hell did you grab me?!”

“So you’d prefer falling down the stairs!” Hinata had bedhair (although it seemed like he had it all the time, but now that he was in his pajamas and being serious it was even more noticeable), and it was so messed up that it was problematic for Kageyama to take him serious at the moment.

“I wasn’t going to fall, I saw it!” at least Kageyama was trying his best to convince himself that it was true.

“Oh really? You were going so fast I thought you were going to fly off them!” Hinata’s voice was getting out of control yet again, he began gesturing wildly and slowly closing the distance between them, just as Kageyama.

“Was not!” surely Kageyama would notice the stairs anyway, right? There was absolutely no need in Hinata’s failed and useless attempts to _help_ him.

“You could just say thank you, you know!” Kageyama wanted yet couldn’t get the point of their loud conversation, but his stubbornness refused to let it go like this. Why did Hinata behave like this? Why was he so persistent? Why would he even _care_ if Kageyama slumped from the stairs in the first place?

“I told you, I wasn’t going to fall and I definitely didn’t need your help!” he suddenly remembered clinging to Hinata when he woke him up from the nightmare, and Kageyama felt the heat rising to his cheeks unwillingly. Gods, that was embarrassing enough, and now Hinata was trying to complicate the situation even more. Yet he didn’t seem to feel like him, didn’t seem fazed by what was happening, only angry. But why? Hinata was the one to cause this mess, Kageyama just wanted to go out. Why was Hinata being so insufferable?

The boy clenched his fists, almost trembling with rage flowing through him, and yelled:

“Having a stupid nightmare is not an excuse for being a huge tyrant asshole!”

Time seemed to stop.

Kageyama’s eyes widened as the meaning of the words struck him even before the sound reached his ears. _A huge tyrant._ That’s what he was anticipating, that’s what he feared most, and of course that’s what happened — at least now he could be sure that it was reality, that Hinata was here in flesh and blood, and he was actually saying it right into his face. Although it did seem like the worst nightmare ever. He felt something stirring painfully in his chest, something familiar, something he tried to push as far away as possible and hide underneath so that he’d never live through that again — a feeling of being abandoned, a feeling of being betrayed.

Maybe, maybe Hinata didn’t mean it like this, but it still hurt, it still hurt so badly. Kageyama’s limbs seemed to go limp as his tensed fingers relaxed and his shoulders became heavy. He shouldn’t have, for his own sake, but he still looked up and met Hinata’s penetrating gaze.

_I’m sorry._

He could feel himself leaning backwards as his own eyes ended up being glued to Hinata’s — his presence and words flowing from his stare were as clear as ever, and it scared him, because it seemed like Hinata just telepathically sent him a message. His gaze was so soft and regretful, as if he did finally realize what his words meant for him. Somehow it still managed to confuse Kageyama even more instead of calming down and actually accepting that no, Hinata didn’t mean that at all. Meanwhile Hinata put everything that was roaming through his mind into words, stating the obvious:

“I’m sorry, Kageyama,” his voice was really quiet, barely audible, but enough for Kageyama to hear. They were both very still, even being in the hall like this, too close to each other, was mind-blowing in a way. Hinata stepped back a little, returning their personal space and tilting his head forwards, seeming ashamed to look at him. But Kageyama didn’t need this, didn’t need any apologizes or — gods forbid — pity. He just needed some time alone, to come up with a solution and deal with a problem himself, in the most reliable way for him.

“Go to sleep,” he managed, trying to sound as determined as possible. It came out a little rough, but he didn’t care. Hinata was shaking him off too much tonight. This has to stop, no matter what.

Hinata, on the contrary, seemed a bit appalled by his demand, although Kageyama suspected that he still knew his motives. He decided not to wait for his answer, going into action, turning around and heading downstairs, completely ignoring some weird, quirky urge to ask Hinata to join him so that he wouldn’t sit alone up there. But he strangled that thought before it could progress any further.

“W-what about you?” Hinata suddenly called and Kageyama froze, his foot in the air looming over a stair for a second. Why would he even wonder about it? As if he cared. As if anyone cared.

“I’ll come back soon,” he found himself answering against his will, feeling an involuntary desire to calm his teammate down somehow. What the hell was wrong with him? He should wing the situation quickly and preferably without any additional consequences for him, especially concerning Hinata. And before he could say anything else, Kageyama climbed down, vanishing from his sight around the corner.

 

Kageyama’s nerves kept buzzing even when he was finally on his own, wandering around on the first floor. It was really dark down there, but thankfully there was almost a full moon shining through the windows, giving some faint light and general directions of where to go. Kageyama stopped by the kitchen, hoping to find something nice to drink, but no such luck. Eventually, he came out of the house — fortunately, there weren’t any other buildings close around, so he didn’t even care that he was actually in his pajamas — and sat down on the porch which was under the roof, and that was handy, because it was raining outside. It wasn’t a heavy rain or a thunderstorm, but the drops hit the ground hard, and there were many deep puddles already, everything seemed soaking wet. Kageyama shivered a little, getting used to the temperature. It was a good decision to walk out — the cold night air smelled of ozone and refreshed him, giving a break and clearing his mind. It was cool a bit, but low temperature also helped in a way. It kept him awake, but also kind of froze off all the nasty thoughts, which were bugging him. Kageyama took a deep breath, cleaning his lungs from gross memories of rotten air from his nightmare, and it did make him feel better. Being alone from time to time always did, he could enjoy it in a way.

The door behind him creaked, making him almost jump up from an unexpected noise.

“It’s me,” Kageyama heard a familiar annoying voice as soon as he managed to think _Hell no._ There was no escape from this guy. He could only sigh in annoyance as Hinata flopped down beside him, kicking his leg slightly in the process, and hissed something angry at him, shifting away a little. He was unbelievably unmannered.

“Isn’t it kind of cool over here?” Hinata rubbed his arms, trying to get warmer, and sniffed. Kageyama just snorted in return.

“Go inside if that’s too cold for you,” he responded, adding some mocking tone in his voice. Kageyama couldn’t resist, and it was his own fatal mistake — Hinata pulled the sleeves of his pajama shirt down, apparently preparing to sit on the porch as long as required, or at least as long as Kageyama could, because he was just too competitive and stubborn, and it was mutual. Kageyama even pondered a possibility of leaving, since he didn’t really feel like sitting here with sticky Hinata at all, but then the latter reached out, offering something to him.

“Want some?” he asked, showing him a packet of juice. Kageyama’s eye twitched. Goddamn him. He was actually quite thirsty, so the perspectives of going to sleep with dry throat or just sitting through some of Hinata’s blabber weren’t equal anymore. Hesitantly, Kageyama stretched his arm and took a packet from Hinata’s hand, as he pushed it in his fingers at the same time. He calmly dissected the packet, stuck the straw in and took a few big gulps in row, moisturizing his dehydrated throat and soothing the burning sensation inside.

It was tasty.

“Where did you get it?” Kageyama wondered, mentally slapping himself for a stupid question and giving Hinata a chance to chatter.

Surprisingly, it took him a while to answer, as if he was thinking about something else.

“Uh, my sister packed it for me, she likes it,” a small abashed smile touched him lips, but Kageyama was in no mood to note that or make fun of him. “Good thing I had this one hidden just in case,” Hinata added, and Kageyama didn’t react, silently sipping the delicious liquid.

They sat like this for a while, not quite being sure of what to do. It felt awkward, really awkward, but at the same time it didn’t seem like they had to do anything at all. Kageyama simply enjoyed the weather and the calming sound the rain was making, while Hinata appeared to be rather… distressed.

Maybe Kageyama should’ve left when he had a possibility. No matter how long he interacted with Hinata (it wasn’t that long at the moment, but it turned out to be the strongest and the most long-lasting connection he had outside his family, as much as he didn’t want to admit it), Kageyama still couldn’t really get how to handle him. He was either too energetic, cheerful and immature, or suddenly became serious and thoughtful. The only thing Kageyama totally accepted about him was his will to win, his determination and passion towards the game, his desire to develop. _That_ he could relate to, but all the rest… not in the slightest.

Hinata was the first one to disturb the silence.

“Did… did you have a nightmare?” Kageyama unconsciously turned his head towards him only a bit, waiting for him to say something else, but he quieted down, as if afraid that he’d asked too much. He didn’t look at him, keeping his eyes on the trees a few dozens feet in front of them, and he didn’t need to, because he already knew that the curiosity was always his main priority (was it?). The question was stupid, just like almost everything that came out of Hinata’s mouth, but Kageyama really didn’t feel like butting heads, using sarcasm or going elsewhere. He was relaxed, as far as he could be in this situation, and… peaceful. Quite a rare word to visit his mind, but that was the truth.

He was sitting on a porch in a training camp at night, next to Hinata (who’s probably one of the last humans in the world to be associated with calm), right after a horrible nightmare, and he felt peaceful. The irony.

“Yes,” he replied, his voice surprisingly quiet but steady. Hinata woke him up himself; once again, it was a really dumb thing to ask. Apparently, Hinata realized it too, and didn’t know what to say. Kageyama became more aware of the situation, and it reassured him a little. Maybe even Hinata wouldn’t be an annoying brat and go ask him things.

“Was it really bad?” Hinata mumbled.

Seriously, did he have a verbal diarrhea or something? Kageyama didn’t want to talk about this, and he pretty damn suspected that Hinata knew everything already — it was him who tried waking him up and failing at first. Why was he wondering about such things? Why would he care? And why would Kageyama answer?

“Yeah, sort of.” There he goes. He should really obtain a better control over his own tongue, for god’s sake. The last thing he needed was pity, especially from Hinata. He definitely wasn’t going to tolerate something like this. Then why was he even talking to him?

“W-was it about junior high match?” these words came out so quietly that Kageyama might’ve as well heard Hinata’s hidden thoughts or something. He turned his head to take a look at him, to try to understand why the hell was he even interested to know that, and he was quite astonished to find out that Hinata didn’t look scared as he expected him to be, since Kageyama guessed he could look pretty frightening back then. Neither he looked curious — well, maybe a little bit, but the most visible emotion was definitely concern. Not that Kageyama had any far-going communication skills, but even he could see it. Nevertheless, it only confused him even more and didn’t cleat the situation in the slightest.

Hinata remained silent, still waiting for an answer.

Kageyama didn’t know what to do. The memories were always close by, right under the surface, and it took him a fleeting thought to revive them and remember everything, including the tiniest details, yet that was never the problem. Did he want to think about it again? Did he want to actually tell someone about what he was dreaming? Kageyama never did, not even to his parents. Although he had to admit, it was easier with them, since they were really busy working, and he never tried seeking any comfort, he always managed on his own. And he couldn’t help but feel a little proud for that, of course, but that didn’t bring him any satisfaction whatsoever. Everything just kept piling up, every fear, every monster, every nightmare that had a potential of coming true, and it all pushed and pulled him down. The burden became heavier every night, but Kageyama would simply forget about it for the whole day — he was always skillful in hiding his emotions or intentions, that wasn’t a big deal, especially considering the fact that nobody asked him about such things — but at night it resurfaced and tortured him again. Kageyama was sick of it already. He didn’t know whether he should do it, whether it could help or, on the contrary, screw things up even more, but before he could come up with a certain decision, the words involuntary spilled out of his mouth.

“Not only about that,” Kageyama wished he could stop so badly, but some part of him didn’t want to. Hinata didn’t say a word, didn’t even move, as if afraid to shake this unique atmosphere where Kageyama was actually talking to him, and it somehow silently urged him to go on. “I often have dreams about it, well… bad dreams mostly. It just hasn’t happened in a while.” Gods be good, everything Kageyama was saying sounded so stupid and cheesy for him, why was Hinata even listening to it? “Anyway, I just got used to it, I guess, but when Kara—“ his mouth shut against his will. What an idiot! How could he even mention that? It was only a stupid nightmare, nothing else, Karasuno would never do something like they did back in his dream, nor would Hinata.

From the corner of his eye Kageyama saw his head turning sharply to him, and he looked at him in return, not being able to avert his gaze. Hinata furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly, with a questioning look in his face.

“Karasuno?” he repeated, utterly confused, and it came out almost as a crow’s caw. “What was Karasuno doing in your nightmare?”

What was he supposed to say? They betrayed him, left alone god knows where and Hinata put a crown on his head, curse it? Kageyama swallowed a lump in his throat. It was, in fact, a bad idea to let Hinata talk to him like this. Look where it brought him. His fists clenched as the memories from the nightmare flooded his mind on some level, messing with his thoughts again. He had to go to sleep, he had to avoid this conversation, which was threatening to tear everything apart even more. Kageyama couldn’t tell Hinata that deep down, on some level he was afraid, he was doubtful about Karasuno, he was scared of himself. He feared stumbling into the same situation like in junior high, turning back into his old self and having people around despise him again. Hinata was oblivious to such things, he never experienced this bitter taste of being kicked out by your own teammates right in the middle of the game, and Kageyama didn’t know why, but he desperately wanted him to never live through that. It was really weird, he didn’t know why he cared in the first place — maybe he wanted Hinata’s love to volleyball to stay pure and uncontaminated, as fierce and passionate as it was, not broken by circumstances at some point like his own. Although, he probably had nothing to worry about here — most of Karasuno clearly adored Hinata, he somehow managed to make every damn person around care about him (and it really pissed Kageyama, because he didn’t seem immune to that), and his personality was attracting people, making them smile. Unlike Kageyama, who instilled panic and horror, especially when he himself smiled (and he would never get why the hell was him smile so scary to others). If he changed and began trying to manipulate and motivate the player the same way he attempter in junior high, Karasuno wouldn’t tolerate it, and he really didn’t want everything to come to that.

“Kageyama?” Hinata repeated, impatience seeping through the tone of his voice. He couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eyes; he was too embarrassed to do that. It might’ve been stupid, but there was nothing he could do about it. His legs tensed as he prepared to stand up and retreat — to hell with explanations, he just couldn’t make his throat speak — but Hinata clearly noticed that as he hurriedly grabbed his wrist, tugging him down before he even had a chance to move.

“Hey, stop this,” he asked, squeezing his hand a bit more. Kageyama stared at him, baffled and shocked at how impudent he behaved. Where did all _his_ fear go? “I just want to help you, alright? I’m not asking you to broadcast all those amusing stories over here, I wondered…” Hinata sniffed, as if getting his thoughts in order. “I wondered why would Karasuno be a part of your nightmare, since… uh, you seem to like it here and… i-it’s strange, maybe you…” now Hinata was averting his gaze, as Kageyama’s brows furrowed in a _what-the-hell-are-you-saying_ manner. “You still… you’re still okay with being in Karasuno, right?” Hinata finally looked up, blurting the question out in one shot. When he met his eyes, Kageyama was finally struck with what Hinata was trying to say: _You’re still planning to play with us, you still like the team, don’t you? Nothing changed, Karasuno being in your nightmare doesn’t mean that you don’t like it anymore, does it?_

A weird sound, something between laughter and a sigh escaped Kageyama’s lips.

“Are you actually this dumb or just pretending?” he asked, completely poker-faced. Hinata’s face flinched, hearing the all familiar insults — finally, something normal coming from Kageyama — and the hand which was wrapping his wrist slid off, forming into a fist. Surprisingly, he didn’t bark anything back at him. “Of course I’m fine with being in Karasuno. If I weren’t, you’d be dead for a long time already.” Hinata reacted calmer this time, as if being able to fully imagine what would Kageyama do to him if he didn’t need him on the court. “It’s just… scary,” he shouldn’t have gone there. Hinata suddenly turned serious, his fists unclenched and annoyed expression vanished.

Hinata didn’t seem to know how to tell him to keep going, so Kageyama just went on, since there didn’t appear to be any escape from this.

“I-I dreamed of Karasuno becoming like Kitagawa Daichi, of… the same story happening in high school,” he revealed, and instantly felt like a huge rock was lifted from his shoulders. Kageyama wouldn’t have thought that sharing something like could put you at such ease — it felt wonderful, even though truly shameful.

Hinata stared at him, confused and astonished. With his mouth slightly opened, his face was exactly like _what-in-the-world-have-I-just-heard_ type. It must’ve looked funny, but Kageyama was deadly serious and couldn’t exactly get why would Hinata stare at him like this. What was his problem?

“Did I put a crown on you?” those words were like a punch in his face. Kageyama couldn’t help but look unbelievably aghast and dumb-founded. How, how did Hinata know that? Lucky guess? Or something else? Although _what_ else, there was no other way that idiot would make up something like this! Kageyama couldn’t even move, he had no freaking idea what to do with this mess now. How could he even be stupid enough to let Hinata stay close? Moron!

And then Hinata _grinned_.

Before Kageyama managed to allow his brain to process this unexpected event, Hinata relaxed completely and laughed, laughed so loud that their teammates would probably hear him if it wasn’t for the weather. Despite the situation being extremely awkward, tense and odd, Hinata’s bright and innocent laugh was so contagious that even Kageyama felt a sudden urge to smirk or at least smile along, which was like beyond weird already. The rain seemed to strengthen, as if actually chuckling along with Hinata, giggling with every drop crushing into the ground and the leaves. A gust of wind washed over them both, ruffling Kageyama’s hair gently, as if asking _Hey there, are you ok?_ in its own way. But Kageyama wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay about this situation. Not at all.

“I did, didn’t I!” Hinata exclaimed, trying to suppress some aftermath. “Oh god, unbelievable.”

He looked so rejoiced and… well, like _Hinata_ that it made Kageyama mad. He wanted to smack some sense in his thick skull. Why was he laughing? Did Kageyama not get a cruel joke? It wasn’t funny or amusing, not in the slightest, so why was Hinata behaving himself like this? Kageyama opened to him just a little bit, and it felt like a stab below the belt.

“What are you laughing at, dumbass!” his fists clenched unwillingly, rage and offence feeling up his body. “Did I say something funny to you?!”

Apparently, the tone of his voice shook Hinata enough to finally stop smirking. He looked at him… in a strange, soft and reassuring way, yet still annoying — this way parents look at their children when they do something stupid. Kageyama usually hated such gazes, even though he didn’t get a lot of them, but the sheer idea of being considered _silly_ pissed him off.

“No, sorry, it’s just me,” he smiled before going further, as if attempting to assure Kageyama that his words were true. “You’re not the one to tell me off for being dumb, you know,” was he purposely angering him and giving a reason to punch him? “How could you possibly think about Karasuno betraying you? Like,” he giggled, “it’s so ridiculous. You haven’t been here for long, me neither, but even I can already tell that they’re completely different, in a nice way. Comparing us to Kitagawa Daichi almost sounds like an insult, you baka,” Hinata accused him, his voice somehow being a bit childish but still severe. Kageyama noticed how fast and easy he went from _them_ to _us_. “Nothing could possibly make them treat you the same way as Kitagawa Daichi did, you should’ve understood it a long time ago. Nightmares aren’t in our control zone, I know, but never mess them up with reality. Don’t let them pile up and resurface whenever it suits them,” he glared directly at him, his presence being so intense it made almost all the words seem useless. “If you need help, you just have to let us know. I thought it was obvious enough, but apparently not for you,” he shrugged and looked at his feet.

Kageyama was speechless. He couldn’t even process the sentences, it was more on an emotional level, the tone of Hinata’s voice and the light in his eyes that made him realize what he was talking about. He never had anyone to share his problems with, nobody cared, and he didn’t want to trouble his family with it. It felt so weird and unnatural — to tell someone about what troubled and gnawed him for such a long time. After all those years of holding everything in it made him seem weak and completely out of character — Kageyama was building this dam so carefully, stone by stone, and here came Hinata and ruined everything, slamming it open in a _here-I-am_ manner. But that dam, that wall was so odd and unwanted, even though required — it made it hard to breath at night, it tunneled his vision on things and pulled him down with its weight. Now only the ruins were left, everything spilled out, confusing Kageyama to no extent, but he could tell one thing for sure: getting rid of that wall felt nice. If anything, he was similar with Hinata in this matter: they both didn’t like walls and tended to search for any ways to overcome those.

Kageyama helped Hinata to dodge from blockers and soar above them, spiking the ball into the opponents’ floor. Now Hinata was breaking his dam down, lifting a burden from his shoulders and fixing him. To be honest, he didn’t know whose case was more important.

It was odd and new, yet Kageyama felt incredibly grateful for that. But like hell he was going to show it.

Although sometimes Hinata did turn out to be smarter and more discerning than he appeared to be.

Hinata smiled reassuringly, reminding him of the sun, and murmur of the rain drowned out in his soothing tender voice.

“See? It’s not that hard to realize, _even for you._ As I said, if you need my help — you can just ask. I’m not Kindaichi or anyone else, you got that, idiot?” he was clearly teasing him, trying to bring something normal to their conversation, but Kageyama was still stunned. “Nightmares aren’t something you deal with on your own, when your mind goes against you.”

Kageyama raised an eyebrow slightly. It sounded as if… as if Hinata knew what he was talking about, knew not from somebody’s words but from his own experience. Well, surely Kageyama wasn’t the only human being on the planet to have bad dreams at night, but he definitely didn’t associate them with Hinata, who seemed to shine no matter what dirt was poured on him. He never ceased to appall him with his endless optimism, but sometimes it appeared that there was something else under his bright smile and sparkling eyes.

“Do you… do you have nightmares?” the question popped out before Kageyama could do anything about it. He couldn’t help it, he was simply too curious. He supposed that he knew Hinata well enough (huh, maybe not as well as some people know each other, but Hinata was probably the only person Kageyama knew so much about), yet the latter always managed to amaze him and bring more surprises as well as troubles along. But now that he thought about it, Hinata always looked happy, and just using simple logic you could state that a person cannot smile all the time. Shit happens, there’s neither guarantee nor an excuse for anyone, even Hinata. Did he hide it, then?

Hinata looked away on the trees, a barely noticeable smile still playing on his lips, his face full of determination.

“Sometimes,” he admitted. “But rarely. Today was the first time in weeks,” his eyes suddenly widened and his cheeks pinked just a little, as Kageyama jerked back, realizing what the whole thing meant. Hinata clearly didn’t want to bring it out, but he accidentally did — turned out, he also had a nightmare, but he still woke Kageyama up and tried to… was that called consoling? Whatever. Kageyama felt really ashamed and embarrassed, that was the point. Hinata dealt with it on his own in no time, while Kageyama had to listen to him to finally calm down and confirm to himself that his fears were illogical. He felt heat rising to his cheekbones. Everything was so wrong and off, he didn’t even understand how Earth could still spin.

“How do you handle them?” he couldn’t resist asking him anyway. Hinata was always so cheerful that it unintentionally made everyone around him happier, even Kageyama to some extent that was visible for him alone. How could Hinata shove bad thoughts somewhere far away and ignore them completely, being so motivated and enthusiastic about things? That truly was a mystery for him.

Hinata was quiet for a while, his face still a bit red. He didn’t need Kageyama’s help when he had a nightmare, on the contrary, he supported him and was even ashamed to admit that he had a bad dream in the first place.

Hinata was… _incredible_.

“Eh… sometimes Natsu comes over and sleeps with me,” he was dangerously close to whispering now, but Kageyama could still hear him well. “I don’t know, it always reassured me, especially when I was younger. She can also have bad dreams, and then she definitely runs to my room and I do the same, I console and comfort her. Even a presence of a close person helps, I guess,” he mumbled. Hinata was obviously embarrassed, but Kageyama wasn’t in the mood to tease him about that, plus after what happened to him this night. “Sometimes I just get over it on my own not to wake her. You get used to it after a while, and as much as frightening it could be, I always tell myself that bad dreams aren’t real and will never be unless I think too much about them,” he spoke with such simplicity and sincerity that it actually sounded believable, like a reliable way of dealing with nightmares. “But it’s always easier when somebody’s beside you,” Hinata added, his cheekbones and ears reddening even more. Kageyama looked in front of him, watching as the drops splashed in puddles and washed over the grass. The idea seemed abnormal to him, which wasn’t surprising — he never had anyone to talk to about his dreams, much less to — gods forbid — _cuddle_ with. How could somebody’s presence help you to get rid of nasty thoughts? How could it sooth you to the extent of actually having a dreamless sleep? It was totally beyond Kageyama’s understanding.

And still, he was glad that he didn’t leave earlier. He felt better now — refreshed, reassured and just a bit sleepy. They still had some matches to play tomorrow, perhaps it was their time to go?

“And how are you used to handle them?” Hinata asked in return, finally turning to him again.

He just couldn’t leave it as it was could he.

Kageyama had to look away again, fidgeting with his fingers and gulping nervously. If one could die from embarrassment, he was already a dead man walking.

“I…” he didn’t feel like lying, and he couldn’t avoid the question without diving into an even more complicated situation, because he knew just as stubborn Hinata was. “I didn’t, really…” How could he even put _I-just-had-them-and-tried-to-ignore-but-to-no-freaking-avail_ into words? “I tried not to think about them much,” he managed. It sounded really lame, but he wasn’t going any further, thank you very much. It’s been enough heart-to-heart talk for him for a lifetime. He already told Hinata way too much, although he couldn’t make himself honestly regret about doing that.

Hinata looked puzzled, but thankfully didn’t ask anything else, only exhaled sharply, as if confirming some sort of a theory in his mind. Kageyama looked at him from the corner of his eye suspiciously, attempting to guess what he was thinking about, but of course it was useless.

As soon as he realized it, Hinata turned to him, as if struck with an idea, and smiled widely, tilting his head to the side.

“You can count on me, then!” he exclaimed, grinning like mad and patting his shoulder before pulling his hand away quickly, as if afraid Kageyama would bite it off.

Kageyama’s range of emotions definitely couldn’t envisage such a situation and provide him with a proper response.

What was _that_ supposed to mean? And how come it felt so… warm and pleasant somewhere in his chest? What the hell was happening to him? Hinata, did he… did he try to encourage him to _share_ with him? Kageyama couldn’t possibly imagine a human being that would voluntarily do that, who needed to know what was going on in his mind anyway? But Hinata was crushing all his stereotypes to dust extremely well and easy, by a few simple gestures Kageyama simply wasn’t used to. Yet Hinata seemed to consider it as something given, and Kageyama couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed, he never thought he actually deserved something and… and someone like this.

Fortunately, the cool night air along with the wind saved him from the unsettling awkward silence — Hinata’s nose twitched, his eyes closed tightly, and a mere second after Kageyama managed to cover his face with his hands his mouth opened, anticipating only one thing coming:

“ACHO-O-O!” It was a good thing Kageyama had fast reflexes. Hinata sneezed so loud that someone might’ve woken up if it wasn’t for murmur of the rain. Kageyama winced, exposing his face again, and wiped the back sides of his palms with Hinata’s shirt, completely poker-faced.

“Hey!..” Hinata protested, but suddenly quieted down as his nose itched in a sneeze again — thankfully, this time he managed to turn around and cover his mouth with his own hands. Kageyama glanced at him, sniffing and rubbing his nose, looking completely unimpressed. Some things never change, such as one’s brain mass.

He stood up, peeking around to make sure that no one was there. Hinata was still sitting on the wooden porch, making some muffled noises that appeared to be sniffing. Once an idiot, forever an idiot.

“Get up, dumbass,” Kageyama hissed, clenching an empty juice packet in his left hand.

“Huh?” Hinata looked at him questioningly, and Kageyama tried his best to suppress a sudden urge to strangle his partner.

“If you fall sick during a training camp, I’m going to dig your grave myself,” that must’ve sounded effective enough, because Hinata definitely paled and hurried to shift his weight on his right arm to help himself get up, but somehow failed and clumsily landed back, his arm sliding to the side. He was hopeless.

“Ouch,” he cursed under his breath, and Kageyama, completely irritated by that moment, crossly reached out, offering a helping hand. Hinata glanced up at him, seemingly wondering if Kageyama was going to drown him in a puddle, but still took his hand hesitantly, and with one quick impulse Kageyama easily pulled him upwards. He quickly let go of his hand and vanished behind the door, entering their training camp house.

Everything was still silent inside as they made their way upstairs, not saying a word — only Hinata kept sneezing quietly and sniffing in his sleeve. Kageyama was really mad at him for being this reckless. If he fell sick and Daichi got to know… that would be really unfortunate for both of them.

They came in the bedroom, carefully heading to their own futons around the spread out limbs of their teammates. Of course their beddings had to be almost in the middle of this… _nest_. It was probably the most appropriate word, especially now that the place was crowded. It was really chaotic, even when everyone was asleep, but still felt… cozy. As if he really belonged here.

Kageyama shook all the stupid thoughts out of his head, coming up to his futon and climbing under the blanket. Hinata did the same, still sniffing quietly from time to time, but keeping it as low as possible.

“Good night,” he said, and Kageyama mumbled something incoherent in return. Still, the situation annoyed him. He was laying with his back turned to Hinata, but the latter just kept fidgeting and rolling over in attempt to get comfortable, making quite a lot of noise — Kageyama couldn’t get how he managed not to wake everyone up by that time. He tried his best to fall asleep, he really did, but it was useless. His eyes automatically snapped open when he heard familiar sounds, and something tugged painfully in his chest every time he sneezed hush fully in his pillow.

_Goddamn it, that’s enough!_

Kageyama jerked up, staring at the opened wardrobe where they kept all the sheets, but it was empty. Damn. He looked around, trying to find some lost or unrequired blanket or something, but no such luck.

“Aren’t you asleep?” Hinata whispered, his face half hidden in the pillow. His voice was weak and… apologizing, he seemed to feel sorry for keeping him awake.

“Shut up!” Kageyama snorted. His fists clenched tightly in annoyance, and his eyes accidentally stumbled down and found a blanket he was about to tear to pieces. Kageyama’s lips formed a thin line, not approving what was he about to do, but he had no choice.

_To hell with that._

Kageyama got on his wobbly feet ( _seriously_?) and came over to Hinata in one step, throwing his own blanket right in his face with all his might and retreating back to his own futon as quickly as possible. His cheeks and face in general seemed to be on fire, he wasn’t even thinking. Kageyama tried to pull up his blanket, which was not there anymore, but he remembered it only when his fingers found nothing but air. This was so dumb. He looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment from… from whom? He didn’t know. His gaze crashed into his black Karasuno jacket, which was lying nearby, waiting for his morning scamper. Well, at least that was better than nothing. He wrapped himself in a warm jacket’s fabric that was pleasantly rubbing against his cool skin and flopped down on the pillow, getting comfortable. Once he did, he unconsciously opened his eyes to check what position he was laying in, and he turned out to be on his right side, facing Hinata, who rose up on his elbows, staring at the second blanket with an utterly confused expression on his face and peeking at Kageyama every second.

Kageyama didn’t have any mood or desire to argue about this, so he used his best convincing look to go with a simple message through his eyes: _Use the blanket or I’ll use it to strangle you myself._

It worked. Not surprising.

Hinata laid down falteringly, wrapping himself in two blankets, his back turned to him, and Kageyama sighed in relief against his will. He could finally get some decent sleep, thank god. Now that he thought about it, he was exhausted and his body demanded rest, so it was a good thing that they finally settled down. Kageyama closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep fast, completely ignoring a weak flow of cool air washing all over him.

 

Kageyama couldn’t determine how long was he asleep, but it seemed like only a few seconds passed before his eyes suddenly snapped open again. His breathing wasn’t off, and he didn’t remember experiencing a nightmare, so why the hell was he awake? It was still dark outside, and raining. Everyone was sleeping, there was even some muffled snoring echoing through the room, probably Tanaka’s. Kageyama’s gaze traveled a bit further, to the futon next to his, and he suddenly realized that it was way too flat, having only a pillow on it.

There was no one there.

His eyes widened as his head jerked up to instantly hear a familiar whisper from behind:

“Calm down, I’m here!”

He thought that he’d jump right up to the ceiling, only the fact that the owner of the voice was stupid Hinata actually helped him to regain his composure in no time.

He turned around right in time to see Hinata — his face was so red that it caught his attention instantly — crouching beside him with too blankets in his arms, also in his black jacket.

The shock that struck him had no limits.

“What the hell are you doing?!” he asked in a furious whisper, too stunned to move away. Hinata’s face seemed to redden more, if that was even possible, as he set down, throwing a blanket over him.

“Y-you were shaking in your sleep,” he explained in trembling voice, as if afraid that Kageyama was going to kick him out of the window. “If I didn’t get sick, you would’ve, and I’m not going with this option,” the confidence grew stronger in his voice as he laid down, pulling the second blanket over them and turning his back to Kageyama.

Kageyama was just still trying to process what on earth was going on over here.

“Are you insane?” he wondered, looking behind at him, but not being able to see his face. His own cheeks prickled with heat already. Hinata was concerned about him being cold? To the extent of actually coming over and sharing his blankets with him?

“S-shut up and go to sleep,” Hinata replied, trying to keep his cool. Kageyama felt too astonished to even punch him or something. “I set up an alarm clock earlier on my phone,” he added quietly, and Kageyama felt a rush of relief flowing through him. If anyone saw them like this… they’d never head the end of it.

Wait, did he actually agree for it this fast? His brows furrowed and it hit him that his hands and feet actually did feel cold, just like the rest of his body — it was probably because of the draft blowing right above the floor. Goddamn it. He didn’t want to get sick, and he didn’t want Hinata to get sick, especially consider that he was helping him while sitting out there (although that idiot could’ve at least taken a jacket with him). It appeared that as much as he didn’t like it, he didn’t have much of a choice here.

His head plumped down on the pillow, touching Hinata’s on its way, and Kageyama pulled the blankets higher, trying to get more comfortable while feeling Hinata’s back against his own. It was so weird and unsettling, but at the same time so warm, pleasant and reassuring — he had strongly mixed feelings about this, but in general, he somehow ended up _enjoying_ it. Oh, he has fallen so low.

“Hey, if something happens— don’t hesitate to wake me up, alright?” Hinata’s voice was so tender and considerate, mellow, smoothly flowing into his ears and soothing him, giving him confidence and a feeling of having a reliable support. Kageyama swallowed a huge lump in his throat, trying to get his voice to work, but Hinata was faster.

“I am with you, I will carry you through it all,” it was barely audible, trembling like leaves under pressure of the rain, but Kageyama’s heart seemed to stop beating. No, he couldn’t trust his voice, he couldn’t trust his _thoughts_ for gods sake.

_But it’s always easier when somebody’s beside you._

Now, when Kageyama was tucking his nose under two warm blankets, one of which smelled strongly like Hinata — it was a surprisingly soothing and nice, gentle scent, knowing his bright and energetic personality — and felt the warmth of his partner right behind him, he finally realized what he was talking about. Hinata actually _cared_ , he was important to him, like, really important. It was so inspiring and comforting to be needed by someone, to make someone happy with his presence and to be able to help and fulfill his dreams. He was amazed to discover that he’d never felt so peaceful in his life, and it felt wonderful. The tense atmosphere dissolved in no time, his muscles relaxed as he slowly melted into the sheets — it was way better under the blankets anyway. It was new experience, but apparently the one… the one he could live with.

“Good night, Kageyama,” Hinata whispered, yawning. Kageyama was afraid to open his mouth, but the words just slid out, already out of control.

“Good night, Hinata.”

The rain kept dripping and knocking in windows and roof, bringing cool air inside, but no cold could bother the sleeping training camp of Karasuno Volleyball Club. Their bedroom was filled with warming essence of care and safety, peace and quiet, friendship and rivalry.

They didn’t have bad dreams that night anymore.

 

“Oh my god, just look at them!” Nishinoya and Tanaka were almost rolling on the floor, laughing their asses off and crying, weeping from the blast of emotions they got while looking at Kageyama’s futon. Suga was trying to shush them a little, but he was doing some lame job suppressing his chuckling as well. Daichi was smiling next to him along with Asahi, Yamaguchi was giggling and Tsukishima apparently did his best not to loose his cool, covering his mouth and shaking in a desperate attempt not to burst into laughter. Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita looked incredibly amused, grinning modestly. With all that noise, Sugawara was surprised that they haven’t woken up already.

“What do you think happened?” he asked Daichi, and the captain smirked.

“No idea. Although some things’d better remain unknown,” they cracked again, and all the noises suddenly died out around him. Taking a look, Sugawara realized that it was Tsukishima who gestured for everyone to move away, looming over the futon with a phone in his hands.

Oh. O-o-oh, that was going to be _something_.

“Tsukishima, are you sure—“ Sugawara was interrupted with a sound of picture being taken. Apparently, there was no going back. Nishinoya and Tanaka threw their arms up in a victorious cry.

There was some shuffling on the futon, and everyone went quiet again, wondering if they were finally going to wake up. Suga hoped so, for their own sake, but no such luck — Hinata… oh god, Hinata nuzzled into his chest, and Kageyama pressed him closer to himself. The room exploded in hissing laughter as Tsukishima hurried to snap yet another photo, looking as smug as they’ve never seen him before.

“Let us see it,” Daichi asked, not wishing to tell anyone off this time, and snatching the phone from their arms to show to Suga and Asahi as well.

Kageyama and Hinata were sleeping together, facing each other — Hinata was snuggling to him, hugging him with one hand under the blanket, and nuzzling into his chest; Kageyama’s chin was pressed against the top of Hinata’s head, and his arm served as a pillow for him, stretched out to the side; Kageyama was tugging him closer with his left hand, wrapping it around his back; and their legs were all tangled, but the faces — as peaceful and blissed as ever.

Sugawara couldn’t help but agree that the photo was incredibly cute and well taken, he was only a bit concerned about the duo’s reaction once they wake up. But apparently, he was the only one to think about it.

“This is so going on Twitter,” Tsukishima grinned, smiling smugly while taking the phone back.

A few minutes later, there was actually a queue of the members of Karasuno Volleyball Club coming to that very futon and taking shots from different angles, even trying to somehow move them a little. They were all late for jogging, but nobody cared.

They were definitely going to remember that training camp for a _long_ time.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, just as usual: it was initially a 3,000 words drabble. DO NOT ASK ME WHAT HAPPENED — I have no freaking idea.
> 
> The nightmare was even like a 1,000-something words longer, but I cut some stuff out, like Kageyama's dialogue with Oikawa and Kageyama being pecked by crows — even I kind of felt sorry for him by that time, wow.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for everyone who's come this far! All the feedback is greatly appreciated! I'm sorry in advance for possible mistakes&typos, since I'm as much of an editor as Hinata is of a server.


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